Thursday, February 27, 2014

See Spike, now this is why white folks are so confused when it comes to you Negroes.

They move out of the urban areas and blow up suburbia, and you Negroes cry "white flight".

Now they are moving back to the cities and you Negroes don't want them around. Folks like Spike believe that "gentrification" is a dirty word. "Here comes whitey. There goes the neighborhood."

Anyway, my man let it be known in no uncertain terms that white folks are changing his beloved Brooklyn, and not for the better.

"Speaking Tuesday night in Brooklyn, blocks away from his company headquarters and his father’s apartment, Spike Lee went off on how the neighborhood has changed. The filmmaker, wearing a Knicks beanie, orange socks, blue Nikes, and "Defend Brooklyn" hoodie, was at Pratt Institute for a lecture in honor of African American History Month, surrounded by locals, when he was nearly asked a question about “the other side” of the gentrification debate. “Let me just kill you right now,” Lee interrupted, “because there was some bullshit article in the New York Times saying ‘the good of gentrification.’” (See: “Argument Over a Brownstone Neighborhood” and New York’s “Is Gentrification All Bad?”)

“I don’t believe that,” said Lee. And for the next seven minutes he explained, with passion, humor, and a fair amount of f-words.

Here’s the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It’s changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better? The garbage wasn’t picked up every motherfuckin’ day when I was living in 165 Washington Park. P.S. 20 was not good. P.S. 11. Rothschild 294. The police weren’t around. When you see white mothers pushing their babies in strollers, three o’clock in the morning on 125th Street, that must tell you something.[Audience member: And I don’t dispute that … ]Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And even more. Let me kill you some more.

[Audience member: Can I talk about something?]

Not yet.

Then comes the motherfuckin’ Christopher Columbus Syndrome. You can’t discover this! We been here. You just can’t come and bogart. There were brothers playing motherfuckin’ African drums in Mount Morris Park for 40 years and now they can’t do it anymore because the new inhabitants said the drums are loud. My father’s a great jazz musician. He bought a house in nineteen-motherfuckin’-sixty-eight, and the motherfuckin’ people moved in last year and called the cops on my father. He’s not — he doesn’t even play electric bass! It’s acoustic! We bought the motherfuckin’ house in nineteen-sixty-motherfuckin’-eight and now you call the cops? In 2013? Get the fuck outta here!

Nah. You can’t do that. You can’t just come in the neighborhood and start bogarting and say, like you’re motherfuckin’ Columbus and kill off the Native Americans. Or what they do in Brazil, what they did to the indigenous people. You have to come with respect. There’s a code. There’s people.

You can’t just — here’s another thing: When Michael Jackson died they wanted to have a party for him in motherfuckin’ Fort Greene Park and all of a sudden the white people in Fort Greene said, “Wait a minute! We can’t have black people having a party for Michael Jackson to celebrate his life. Who’s coming to the neighborhood? They’re gonna leave lots of garbage.” Garbage? Have you seen Fort Greene Park in the morning? It’s like the motherfuckin’ Westminster Dog Show. There’s 20,000 dogs running around. Whoa. So we had to move it to Prospect Park!

I mean, they just move in the neighborhood. You just can’t come in the neighborhood. I’m for democracy and letting everybody live but you gotta have some respect. You can’t just come in when people have a culture that’s been laid down for generations and you come in and now shit gotta change because you’re here? Get the fuck outta here...." [Source]

Lord have mercy! Spike be mad!

Anyway, this is nothing new, this gentrification push back has been going on for awhile now, and it has sparked debates all over the country. Heck "Chocolate City' looks more like Latte City these days.

Here in Philly we have this issue as well. My friend Solomon Jones wrote an excellent article about it a few months back, and I tend to agree with some of his sentiments:

"I for one have never seen that as a fair exchange. When people have lived in a home for decades, investing in their community even as their neighborhood crumbled around them, they should be among the first to benefit when things improve. They shouldn’t be forced to leave."

What do you all think?

Not you, Spike. You have made yourself perfectly clear about this subject.

No shit, the Philadelphia City Council has passed "gentrification protection", a powerful reminder that the greatest threat to black communities is the increasing of residential private property values and new commercial investment into their neighborhood. These conditions are caused directly by white people moving in.

That's right. The City government of Philadelphia is passing laws to ensure poor black, crime-ridden neighborhoods stay that way.

President Obama can propose using HUD to 'diversify' neighborhoods that they deem too white, but that same government will turn around and defend the right of black people not to let white people into their neighborhoods.

In Portland, the The Portland African American Leadership Forum and NAACP joined forces to keep a Trader Joes store out of a black neighborhood, issuing a statement that they "remain opposed to any development in N/NE Portland that does not primarily benefit the Black community." It said the grocery-store development would "increase the desirability of the neighborhood," for "non-oppressed populations."

Black neighborhoods are often described as "food deserts" due to the lack of grocery stores, yet you have the NAACP protesting private businesses moving into black communities because...because why exactly?

While money is the means, it's greed that perpetuates the lust for profit and power. White folks :::produces membership card::: can thank their white European ancestors for that. I've been pissed at them since I was in high school ('71-'74).

I was very lucky, however, with the school I attended: brand-new building and enthusiastic teachers for a brand-new high school, with a student population which wasn't all one skin color, mostly due to the majority of the students being from military families. Back then, military personnel and their families moved every 2-3 years (that was the policy then). Changing duty assignments for parents meant the kids had to be able to make new friends easily and early. This kind of life certainly had its bad points, but what those points were depended on who one talked to about them.

Being raised in an Army family is, very likely, why I think What the frack is wrong with these people??!? whenever I hear about the sh*t that continues to happen in this country every day. If the Europeans had stayed home and continued to murder each other, I suspect the North American continent (what hubris!) would be unrecognizable to current residents because it would be so beautiful.

What would human societies and cultures look like if Jesus appeared to the Chinese and Buddha appeared to the Europeans?

Field, "See Spike, now this is why white folks are so confused when it comes to you Negroes.

They move out of the urban areas and blow up suburbia, and you Negroes cry "white flight".

Now they are moving back to the cities and you Negroes don't want them around. Folks like Spike believe that "gentrification" is a dirty word. "Here comes whitey. There goes the neighborhood.""

Brother Field, you say the Whites are confused? I say the Blacks are confused as well.

I mean, how many times have you seen surveys and heard in the MSM that Whites don't want to be around Blacks?

We ARE the race that Whites can't stand, right? Then what the hell are Whites doing moving into Black neighborhoods? Didn't they run from the cities before?

Regardless, at least they will start bringing in some grocery stores with some healthy good food instead of that McDonald bullshit. As a matter of fact, I read that MickeyD, Popeyes, and Burger King aren't too happy about all those Whites moving into their neighborhoods. Sooner or later it's bound to hurt their bottom line because Blacks like to do what Whites do. And fast food isn't a White favorite.

"What would human societies and cultures look like if Jesus appeared to the Chinese and Buddha appeared to the Europeans?"

I hate to break it to everyone, but Jesus and Buddha come from the same Source. Hence human cultures would be the same. The only difference is Jesus and Buddha would be speaking the language of the countries they were in. But the cultures wouldn't change.

Hey, Spike Lee... With all your money, why don't you own more buildings in Harlem, Bed Stuy, Crown Heights, etc.? And, who or what is forcing black property owners to sell? Winter Park, FL: Gentrification, i.e., pricey condos have replaced the properties once owned by prosperous Black people. White people certainly don't mind moving in next door to Black people. Who or what forced property-owning Blacks to sell? Greed; lust for the short-term fast buck. If we don't like gentrification, don't sell, period. If we don't like gentrification, we can form collectives/coops and, as a group, buy up properties. The "Willie Lynch" syndrome still has us under its spell, sadly.

I have a video for you Fake Field Negro. Check out Brother Leo Muhammad who is Jamaican break it down for your bull shitting ass. He isn't trying to be something other like you. SPEAK BROTHER LEO MUHAMMAD!

Anon 9:53 PM, you are going to make sure i see everything on fox, huh? you know i will check out the link, too. even if i am slightly huh? on the other side of it. you left that nice white lady politician link didn't you? frightening the heck out folk talking 'bout that nice white lady was the next potus.

lol.

+ shudders.

evil ambitious women tend to run circles around evil men. this is why the book of Proverbs warns foolish men. that are usually somewhere acting like since there are so many women in #s they got good. um, nope. just more room to be confused + caught up. run into a she devil and folk won't like any women anymore. lol. seen it with my own eyes when foolish menfolk have been what i called "fixed"...

i AM a FN fan. i Love him and know this because he ticks me off like only someone i Love could.

i Love my brothas, sons + husband...wherever he is. i think he will show up once i mellow out + stop eye piercing folk like, "what you want?", when they try to get too close to me. lol. anxious for nothing...focused only on my purpose revealed.

in many ways i feel like the intense freedom fighters that i have always been drawn to. the woman version. these folk would look at approaching folk differently than others i observed. i don't really view approaching men as potential mates these days. lol. more like what you want? who you with? do you know Him/His Word? why you standing so close? get your hands out your pockets. keep your hands where i can see 'em lol. sometimes i get a whiff of fear, depending on the soul that had it all wrong. lol.

since AB isn't here to hit him in the head hard + he played her to the left like she isn't a real person. some whacks are for her, too. got a few more i want to give Bill for kicking her when she was down.

human. with free will. truly burdensome sometimes that free will is;( if i were a bird, i would probably want to negotiate when it is time to migrate;( + lol! though i am glad He told me that letting it rip would bring a set back. since we can't lose anyways + i needed to get some things off my chest...i went for it.

;(

that ain't Right. i know. pray for me folk. i still possess a LOT of heathen traits.

ps. sometimes things resonate as anger, lack of compassion, judgment, or whatever other label. if i had to attach a label to me these days...it would be more heartbroken than anything else. much of what i see breaks my heart.

true story:

walked into a firm with a professional brotha, married to a bw. mentioned him before + his nonstop gaming. told that man point blank, the first day i ever met him, that Almighty sent me to be a blessing.

homie proceeded to try to dog me out. work me to death while putting ww on pedestals right in my face. lavishing them with the special treatment that a bw will NOT on ANY day walk into a white firm and feel surrounded by wm AND ww. i can promise my last breath that wm will not delight in such a spectacle the way this soul did. it is almost like some bm relish making bw feel bad.

when i visit the fields and see bw routinely dissed to the sound of crickets from the protectors. Anon will speak up. much Love. e'erbody else not so much. unless it is a resident white lady's turn then FN and others come running on cue. don't get brand new. i have called it out many times before. only to be told the bw here don't require protection. that is fine. bm with this mentality don't command, require nor will they get a grip of my respect. depending on what else is going on...they might just feel the wrath.

back to the other bm that got on my last...

the whole time this soul tested to see if i wanted to be in his harem. just ugh. man please. the ONLY woman that thinks you cute, for Real, thought you that before you made a dime, waaay back in high school. she is STILL the only that feels that way...so show her some respect. if still broke, you would still get no play except for her. lol! do the math playa. that was my take on it.

it broke my heart recently to read of this brotha getting gobsmacked with federal charges. held without bail. after actually mocking me to my face...while he mistreated me. overworked me. decided he did not need to pay my invoices in a timely manner. why did the article emailed to me have a pic of Martin Lawrence dressed like big momma prominently featured as it discussed all the clink time homie had in his future?

what about Almighty sent me and i AM here to be a blessing is not clear to folk? why when i show folk Love do they see weakness or a fool? why do some brothas stand up all incredulous that some bw are sick of 'em + will call it? don't they know they sound just as dumb as puzzled why others might not like nor trust 'em lost white folk?

unresolved hurt. why did i care more about his family than he did? it comes off as anger, i suppose. i am not angry. just REALLY wish that more could see + Stand. Speak the Truth, knowing He is Real + we.can't.lose.in.Him/His Word.

WHEN are folk going to do the basic math + see that bgs need their fathers and protection. stat.

Bill O wants to discuss a program that ONLY addresses boys...yet apply peer pressure to girls to not get pregnant.

what about since this is all about the males...peer pressure THEM into not getting folk pregnant? it is not just the young ones either. grown men are baby daddying it up a storm.

add a baby daddy stigma. keep it all about the boys/men...

OR try treating the girls like sensitive soft creatures for a change. and treating the boys like you expect them to grow into men. there's a concept.

Bill O with all his huffing and puffing while refusing to discuss the Real = Anon,that is the last time.

WHO dismantled Black families?

ps. that jarrett lady does NOT impress either. she has a shop for shoes while Black bodies float in nola flood water condi rice vibe to her. i AM convinced folk must be evil to rise to top levels in the sociopath horror show...

"Bill O wants to discuss a program that ONLY addresses boys...yet apply peer pressure to girls to not get pregnant.

what about since this is all about the males...peer pressure THEM into not getting folk pregnant? it is not just the young ones either. grown men are baby daddying it up a storm."

FP, you are ALWAYS talking about black men and their MANY shortcomings yet when President Obama comes up with a "program" to try to FIX the problems you(and others) complain about you ask "well, what about black women and girls".

If black men and boys present this big social problem then common sense indicates that resources be targeted towards this group. Yes?

Fyi, women and girls ALREADY have programs to help them: public assistance (tanf, fs, section 8, planned parenthood, etc.) is one massive social safety net program for "women and girls".

On the one hand, you seem to blame black men and boys for EVERY bad thing yet you want to be all up under them at all times. Can't black men and boys have SOMETHING just for themselves just like "women and girls" do?

If your neighborhood gentrifies some, maybe you could buy food from a real grocery store, instead of from a store where all the products and employees had to be kept behind inch thick sheets of plexiglass. I've never seen that arrangement at Trader Joe's.

Areas where blacks have political control don't work. There are no businesses, the government is corrupt, and the schools are failures. It is a place where the criminals rule and decent people have to keep their mouths shut and accept the fact that they have buy food by putting money into a revolving plexiglass pass-through.

For close to 50 years now, blacks have run large parts of urban America. Black control has been more important than black prosperity, security, or education. In the aftermath of the Civil Rights movement this was understandable, but how long does it take to see what a disaster this has been for America in general and blacks in particular?

Gentrification is a life line. Cities should be doing everything they can to encourage it. Instead, black groups and the government use Good Racism (i.e. anti-white racism) to keep investment out of the areas that need it most.

In Portland, the The Portland African American Leadership Forum and NAACP joined forces to keep a Trader Joes store out of a black neighborhood, issuing a statement that they "remain opposed to any development in N/NE Portland that does not primarily benefit the Black community." It said the grocery-store development would "increase the desirability of the neighborhood," for "non-oppressed populations."

Can't have none of that. We only want "oppressed populations" around here!

Spike needs to STFU, a lot of black people have profited off gentrification too. I own a Brownstone I rent out there, helps feed the family and pay Howard University for my duaghters education. Unfortunatly a lot of the people who have lived there for years never bought and rent Apartments. Gentrification is a chance to make money if you sieze the opportunity, those that don't just have to move on it's just a fact of life and life is not fair.

Anonymous said...Spike needs to STFU, a lot of black people have profited off gentrification too. I own a Brownstone I rent out there, helps feed the family and pay Howard University for my duaghters education. Unfortunatly a lot of the people who have lived there for years never bought and rent Apartments. Gentrification is a chance to make money if you sieze the opportunity, those that don't just have to move on it's just a fact of life and life is not fair.

12:48 PM---------------------I agree, Spike should STFU. As a matter of fact, he should have shut his trap a long time ago.

I also agree that gentrification is a way to make money for 'some' of us who has the financial ability to buy or sell.

Unfortunately, many Blacks have not had the opportunity, the education, the knowledge or the understanding of how things work in the white world.

You are right. Life's not fair and nobody knows that better than African Americans from the days of slavery to Jim Crow to today.

You write and sound like you are Black but unsympathetic to your own people. I understand because today there is little feeling for us among us, nor has there ever been.

The problem is Whites don't give a damn about us either...just ask Kinky Con.

That begs the question: "If Blacks are against Blacks, and Whites are against Blacks, WHO is for Blacks?"

To me, it is insane to go against your people. That's going against yourself and kin. However, I am aware of an old black saying, "All skin folks are not kin folks." You sound like one of them.

Dr Nuwang, "At the end of the day there is NO such thing as a Black person with real power in this country. Unless we're talking Oprah Winfrey."

11:12 AM---------------------Doctor, you have said something quite insightful, which I agree. Even your foes who don't believe you are going to be a doctor must give you accolades for your comment at 11:12am.

However, I am not sure they believe you will be a doctor. Maybe a philosopher instead?

FP, you are ALWAYS talking about black men and their MANY shortcomings yet when President Obama comes up with a "program" to try to FIX the problems you(and others) complain about you ask "well, what about black women and girls".

__________________

first stop...let us not tell lies.

IF there was a way to speak to the condition of BW WITHOUT mentioning BM...i would.

here. let me say it like this since BM can ONLY see clearly when it applies to them.

speaking of the condition of BW WITHOUT mentioning BM is like speaking of the condition of Black People without mentioning white folks.

get it?

__________________

"If black men and boys present this big social problem then common sense indicates that resources be targeted towards this group. Yes?"

IF bm/bbs present a big social problem. not only do you possess the sensibilities of a little girl...you ALSO seem to be in denial. where were you when all the BM with Good sense was warning BM about the endgame of being single, dangerous and obsolete?

that is a book title. you may want to read it. since BM can ONLY hear when other menfolk speak. though it is clear, if they are not telling you that you are a helpless victim...ya'll don't want to hear it. "do for self" will get BM twisted to where he does exactly ONLY for himself. and his house, IF he feels like it.

where are the Black Elite? even WITH greater education BW make less. what are BM doing with all their $? then just as soon as someone says giving it back to white folk through the ww they worship...then the ladyboys howl.

it is a crying shame that Black folks don't respect what is theirs UNTIL other folk come take it. keeping communities safe for BW and children is NOT important for the avg BM. i have sat right here and listened to the educated 1% BRAG about how safe ww are around them. while yelping and whining when a sista like me points out the SHAME that it is that NO such claims can EVER be made like that as it relates to BW.

"Fyi, women and girls ALREADY have programs to help them: public assistance (tanf, fs, section 8, planned parenthood, etc.) is one massive social safety net program for "women and girls"."

___________________

are you joking? are you the hateful homo queen that worked in social services? 'cause THEN that statement will make sense.

your good sensitive, yelping ladyboy behind just pointed to precisely what is breaking down the Black family. and guess what? quite a bit of your brethren think that all of the above is exactly where BW and their babies should go for provision. not to the menfolk that make the babies + hate the ladies that carry the babies.

NEWSFLASH: IT IS ABOUT THE BLACK NATION. all the Blacks are NOT men. when BO was writing gov't chks for e'erybody else ...did he just do it for the menfolk?

and don't get brand new. welfare is NOT just for women and children. tell yourself lies. don't direct them towards me, because i won't pattycake with ya.

__________________

"On the one hand, you seem to blame black men and boys for EVERY bad thing yet you want to be all up under them at all times."

_________________

unlike sensitive delusional ladyboys, i DON'T pretend EACH and EVERY BM getting verbally or violently blasted is a poor hapless victim. i AM REAL clear that there is great garbage among US. i will let you and others keep playing those dumb mind games with yourselves.

DESPITE knowing FIRSTHAND how much some BM hate all things Black. ESPECIALLY those that give life to Black...i have not YET given up on BM. though some days...

so yes, i AM guilty of seeking out Black folks. BM that run thangs. Black folks that run thangs. not even just the men. there are some BW that get on the last nerve as well with their self hatred and how it plays out with wighats and an unnatural hatred directed at other BW and women in general. did folk REALLY think women were/oppressed with no woman assistance? but NO ONE hesitates to air out publicly ALL that they hate about BW. not even their BM protectors that BW will stand in front of on the battle field. take a look at the footage if you think i AM pulling info from the rear. watch and weep how emasculated BM seem content to remain. WHO puts their women and children on the FRONT LINES in a battle but a wuss/puss? THIS is why it is important to note that the "civil" rights movement was contrived + controlled + funded by white folk.

this nugget of Truth allows me to still Love BM. otherwise...it is my full belief that wuss/pusses deserve to be f'd. Stand. Speak when folk have had enough. this is what time it is even for women.

___________________

"Can't black men and boys have SOMETHING just for themselves just like "women and girls" do?"

___________________

yes. you may join the homo community like a proud gay man. there it will be ALL men + boys.

blank stare.

i AM het and AM speaking to the hets/families that under siege. i AM willing to take every hit to remind His People/my people of the Truth of who we are.

separating BM and BW = all bad.

focusing on the fatherless boys while the fatherless daughters are being mangled, maimed, raped, brutalized, brainwashed that they are their body parts, stripper cultured, with no examples coming from ANY WHERE of what Love is...much less being protected + provided for.

nope. i won't be quiet.

nope. i.AM.not.sorry.

i Love Black people. i Love humanity.

ps. how folk FEEL about what i AM saying is their personal business. point to lies specifically and i will take 'em back. until such time, folk might want to pretend we are discussing sex and come prepared to be grown ups. which seems the ONLY time quite a few bfolk are prepared to grow up + act grown.

i don't presume to know about KC's personal life, to whoever thinks it appropriate to ask me.

also for the can bm have something all their own whiner-

you ALREADY do. ya'll are killing the prison + crime game. despite knowing full well the system is stacked against you.

what folk don't want to talk about...from the ole timers to the brand new re-engineered modern bm- BEFORE ya'll get all caught up in the system... A LOT of bw and children have ALREADY suffered. there are a LOT of black devils among US that do not ever do time for all the evil they practice FIRST on bw and bchildren.

as a wide awake bw, i will not be a silent co-conspirator. which is what the mammying, mule, bm protecting no matter what bw are.

own strength = lose.

arrogance keeps BM own strengthing this spiritual journey.

it puts women like me in a bit of a predicament. though i refuse to hold onto the trick bag. peeping the game strongly indicates that if i try to keep up appearances...i will suffer more than anyone else as a bw. 'cause as quiet as it's kept, the uber violent po po is the only thing that prevents congo style rape camps among Blacks in the U.S. not popular to say, but it's the Truth. what did the gentleman tell folk, "hide yo kids. hide yo wife, 'cause they rapin' e'erbody out here." folk can laugh if they want but that's what it is.

as Malcolm X said:

“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

and he ALREADY addressed the BM re: the on-going mistreatment of BW. but ya'll pretending somehow we missed the slaving, lynching, no provision, no protection, etc.

while ya'll, in massive numbers, reserve the right to keep serving it up.

please know: some BW have zero intent of quietly accepting it.

some of US Love our sons too much to watch what the enemy to our souls has in store 'em. with their stiffnecked, stubborn, selfish, all about them all day, gift to the planet + women, selves. man rules apply to BM. history taken into account and all.

if you are not being sarcastic please know...i AM a bit stuck right now at my house.

there is so much going on. the folk that i Love the most don't seem to Love me back. they seem to want to see hatred where there is none. they seem to Love the world more than Him/His Word. i am only human. a woman no less. i feel life in ways others seem not to.

so when i am not a ball of emotions, tears, and more flesh than spirit...

"When Michael Jackson died they wanted to have a party for him in motherfuckin’ Fort Greene Park and all of a sudden the white people in Fort Greene said, “Wait a minute! We can’t have black people having a party for Michael Jackson to celebrate his life. Who’s coming to the neighborhood? They’re gonna leave lots of garbage.”

What's America come to when you can't trash a park having a celebration for a homosexual child molester?

Spike forgets that these were once White Communities and that blacks moved in crime went up, property value declined and quality of life was non-existant. Black destroy communities while Whites BUILD safe communities with shopping, police protection because they actually contribute to society. Blacks should shut up and stop complaining. These communities were WHITE COMMUNITIES FIRST. Blacks should be thankful that their property values will increase. White are tired of propping up blacks who refuse to make positive contributions to society.

FP, "there is so much going on. the folk that i Love the most don't seem to Love me back. they seem to want to see hatred where there is none. they seem to Love the world more than Him/His Word. i am only human. a woman no less. i feel life in ways others seem not to."

4:15 PM----------------------I relate to how you feel, Sister. And I am a bm who seeks HIM everyday...some days I do it better than others. I have felt the same about my family and my race when it comes to love for some time. My relatives 'definitely' love the ways of the world more than HIS way.

I will go out on a limb and say MOST Blacks care more about the world than GOD. In fact, they have no interest in GOD's Way, Truth or Life. They are maddenly in love with the way of the world, though. No recognition or interest in the Great Spirit, The Creator.

It hurts me because what I see very few see. It's as if they were totally blind....totally asleep, dreaming that they are awake. They don't seem to feel the depths of painful suffering I go thru either.

Yet, Christ gave HIS life for the human race? Why did he give HIS Life for ungrateful losers who have sold their souls to the devil? This Divine risk is a big risk, one that seems through my human eyes see a risk that won't pay off.

I don't know. Nevertheless, I have no choice but to 'trust' and have faith that GOD is there and knows far more than I could possibly imagine. But one thing I know, since the beginning of human history, things have been a mess and seem to be getting worse. Technology hasn't brought us closer to each other or GOD, it has made the distance greater. But this earth, and I suppose it's exactly the way it's suppose to be when humans are running the earth unaided by the Divine.

Ft Greene and Bedford-Stuy was one of the original blockbusting schemes writ large, when the subway line from Harlem to Brooklyn was opened in 1936, allowing blacks to flee and destroy what had been an stable, safe, prosperous, economically diverse but ethnically homogeneous area inhabited by white working and middle class white collar workers who commuted for work to lower Manhattan.

Whites are just reclaiming what was stolen from them by blacks in the 1930's and finalized with the overt ethnic intimidation and race riots of the 1960's.

Focused Purpose said:"are you joking? are you the hateful homo queen that worked in social services? 'cause THEN that statement will make sense."

Me:Your homophobic name calling shows just how homophobic you are at the ROOT of your evil bigoted psyche.

The programs/agency in question, however, DO benefit women (with minor children) far more than they benefit MEN (particularly if those men do not have minor children living with them, which they usually don't).

TANF, for example, encourages people (usually women with minor children) to become "self-sufficient" along with the tools (however inadequate they may be) to accomplish this. Whether they take advantage of these "tools", or not, is up to them. No, these programs and agencies are not going to rehabilitate the "black family" because no program/agency can do this (including the recent presidential initiative). Only responsible parenting can rehabilitate the "black family" but that is not likely to happen anytime soon among the masses of black people because if it was going to happen it would have happened already.

I'm white and worked with a local community to stabilize around light rail coming in. Asian and Black neighborhood - St. Paul - the highway pasted the old Black hometown Rondo in the 50s-60s, so now the community is aware of what's going on.

So it's like the white system crammed these neighborhoods with these folks to begin with. Residential segregation is probably at the core of many black communities. Hypersegregation particularly for black folk. The Asians, and in my neighborhood on the other side of downtown, the Latinos, all get these crappy neighborhoods. They then build roots there, and when the economy shifts or the rail line comes or the new highway or the whatever, rich people use their market strength to muscle their way back in.

It's a classic white privilege moment, but on a neighborhood-wide scale, that these new rich people are offended that you have different cultural standards. Why shouldn't you? Why shouldn't any community? So that's the galling part about gentrification, and what Spike is talking about.

I'm still trying to figure it out because neighborhoods are never static. Things wax and wane. Another big thing is that there are so many more poor people, white and black and brown, because of income inequality and corporate dominance and monopoly power and all that. Those folks at the top are also just fine writing off neighborhoods altogether.

So I want a world where we don't dispose of neighborhoods, or peoples, or races. And where the goods are spread around. And where people are respectful of each other; but right now the rich are on top doing some disrespecting of the rest of us, so that should be factored in too.

I also read you don't moderate this and so I've never read one of your threads. There are some amusing people here. The right wing trolls are spot on - hand them their brownshirts, they're ready to go! But it's kind of refreshing to have that crap in there as long as it's not the only thing. But it was under 70 comments and I skimmed a lot.

Whoever said that Field knows a lot about white and black minds but doesn't know much about women, white or black, hit the nail on the head.

I wrote a blog post about it myself once- about Field and Abagond, who once let me down on the feminist front in the same week one time with their posts disparaging women. I finally let it go because, in the way of black women, I hate to disparage my brothas no matter how much they dog us (talk about being over-loyal!). But looking back, I should published that post. Maybe I'll forward it to Field and Abagond privately. It's something they both definitely need to read.

That being said, Spike Lee is spot on about gentrification. Field, you sound awfully white when you say:

See Spike, now this is why white folks are so confused when it comes to you Negroes.

"They move out of the urban areas and blow up suburbia, and you Negroes cry "white flight".

Now they are moving back to the cities and you Negroes don't want them around. Folks like Spike believe that "gentrification" is a dirty word. "Here comes whitey. There goes the neighborhood."

Field, I think this is a straw man argument at best and a false paradox at worse.

Diversity isn't merely about who lives where. It's not just merely black and white people living next door to each other.

True diversity is about sharing space- and exchanging, accepting and compromising over cultural differences in that space.

White people do not afford black people the respect of compromise. And neither does our government.

Black neighborhoods aren't serviced, they're monitored. Black neighborhoods aren't protected, they're policed. And then when white people move in, not only are the services they're afforded better, but black people don't get to reap the benefits, because they're pushed out.

When black people complain about crime they are likely to be arrested or harmed themselves. When white people complain about crime, their concerns are likely to be taken seriously.

When white people ask for better store fronts or streets or economic investment, they get it. When black people ask for these things, they're asked why and made to prove that they even deserve it? And then we're accused of not using our own money that we don't have to fix up our own neighborhoods.

But when we do come together to build a garden or safe, clean space, somebody comes along and says we shouldn't or finds a way to destroy it

We're damned if we do, damned if don't and then we're forced to put up with whatever white people decide to do next. It's horribly, terribly unfair.

*COMMENTS, LINKS, AND CUT AND PASTE ARTICLES, ARE NOT ALL ENDORSED BY THE PUBLISHER.

Follow the The Field Negro via e-mail.

TWEET ME

@fieldnegro

DISCLAIMER

***The views expressed on this site are the field's and the field's alone. They do not reflect the views of his employer, or any professional or legal organization with which he is affiliated.***

This is a commercial free blog.

Money is nice, but being able to speak my mind is better.

"Real talk: Daniel Rubin has a great little piece up wherein he chats with The Field Negro, the Philly-based blogger who sharply ponders all things black on a daily basis. (Seriously, if you’ve never checked in with TFN, you should: Its author, Wayne Bennett, is a fantastic read who can cut through bullshit like a hot knife through butter, which is a far grosser analogy than I wanted to make, but there you have it.)" ~Philebrity~

"..While most of what he writes is tongue-in-cheek, his space is a safe house for candid discussions about race, especially in the comments section, where people of all colors meet."~~Daniel Rubin, "The Philadelphia Inquirer"~~

"To white people, Bennett's musings are like kitchen-table talk from a kitchen they may otherwise never set foot in. To African Americans, he is part of a growing army of black Internet amateurs who have taken up the work once reserved for ministers and professional activists: the work of setting a black agenda, shaping black opinion and calling attention to the state of the nation's racial affairs."

~~Richard Fausset, "L.A. Times"~~~

"That's why I love the blog "Field Negro" so much. Field, as he's known to his fans, has the sense of reality that it takes to call out the (CowPuckey) of blame beating by those who are in positions of power and their lackeys. Because of his handle and his unabashed way of writing about racial issues, Field is often cited as a "Black blogger." What he is, however, is a first-class detector of blame deflection and an excellent student of history. If you want to write about the past and future of repression there's really no other perspective to take - which is why everyone should read Field."

"Half a century after Little Rock, the Montgomery bus boycott and the tumultuous dawn of the modern civil rights era, the new face of the movement is Facebook, MySpace and some 150 black blogs united in an Internet alliance they call theAfroSpear.

Older, familiar leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, are under challenge by a younger generation of bloggers known by such provocative screen names as Field Negro, thefreeslaveand African American Political Pundit. And many of the newest struggles are being waged online."~Howard Witt-The Chicago Tribune~

"I had no idea, for example, of the extent of the African-American blogging world out there and its collective powers of dissemination.But now, after reading thousands of anguished, thoughtful comments posted on these blogs reflecting on issues of persistent racial discrimination in the nation's schools and courtrooms, what's clear to me is that there's a new, "virtual" civil rights movement out there on the Internet that can reach more people in a few hours than all the protest marches, sit-ins and boycotts of the 1950s and 60s put together." ~Chicago Tribune Reporter, Howard Witt~